Features

Words and photographs: Steve Wilson Though the trip didn’t perhaps go quite as smoothly as might have been hoped, a good time was had by all. The BSA camping weekend at Stephen Dunne’s rambling farm in central France earlier this year was too good an opportunity to miss. Stephen had started running the weekends four…

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Words: ROY POYNTING Photographs: TERRY JOSLIN The 1931 Sunbeam Lion is a rare beast, and although its name hints at a fearsome nature, it’s actually more a big, soft pussycat. It was a no-brainer for the motor industry to adopt the names of nature’s big cats; conjuring up images of what the Jaguar car adverts…

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Words: James Robinson Photographs: Gary Chapman/Mortons Archive This prototype machine was never actually fully finished, but dedication, hard work and enthusiasm has seen it take to the road for the first time… 55 years after the project began. This is a tale of detective work, dedication and no little ingenuity. What has resulted, through the…

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So said the headline for a 1942 Graham Walker feature, referring to some Velocette developments. During the Second World War, Graham Walker, editor of Motor Cycling magazine, had to use some initiative to keep the pages of his weekly magazine full. As a consequence, those magazines from the 1939-45 period provide some fascinating tales and…

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Words: Roy Poynting Photography: Terry Joslin This British four-stroke trials iron came from a period when two-strokes – predominantly Spanish – ruled the roost. Those of us who were around before the British motorcycle industry imploded in the mid-1960s, will need little reminding of the big-name London area dealers. Top of the list was Pride…

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Words and photography: Steve Wilson Eighty years ago BSA hit the sporting singles market with a ‘one-two’ – first, the charismatic Empire Star, and then a complete redesign and a range of high-quality, precedent-setting sporting singles. My young friend Ed Batty is impulsive – but in a cautious way. This chimes with his somewhat contradictory…

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Words and photography: Phillip Tooth This 1913 90-Bore Bat-JAP offers staggering performance, but that’s not surprising considering its pedigree. Stephan Friedl sets the needle valve of the drip feed on the Best and Lloyd oil pump to number two. Then he releases the clip that holds the plunger down, and as the internal spring pushes…

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Words: JAMES ROBINSON Photography: GARY CHAPMAN/mortons archive This pair of International Nortons both have a 1950s Clubman TT history and share an engine, but they are from different ‘generations’. Stood alongside one another, what is most obviously apparent about this pair of International Nortons, built just two years apart, is the differences, rather than the…

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Vic Willoughby is taken for a ride by the runner-up in The Motor Cycle’s 1962 ‘Specials’ competition. The Motor Cycle ran a competition in 1962 where readers could submit their ‘specials’ to be judged by a panel of experts – which included prolific special builder Bob Collier – in the quest to win a £25…

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Words: Richard Rosenthal Photographs: Mortons Archive With the British motorcycle industry struggling, the Labour Government appeared hell-bent on finishing it off. Due to an ailing economy, purchase tax rates were sky high, then Westminster hiked minimum HP deposits from 10% to 40% as motorcycles, including commuter mopeds, lightweights and scooters were reckoned ‘luxury items’. Still,…

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